Mitchell College Uses Strong Second Half To Surge Past Women’s Basketball, 61-46

Box Score

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Elms College junior guard Katie Condon (Sandy Hook, Conn.) and freshman guard Ellen Donohue (Southington, Conn.) tied for a team-high 11 points but Mitchell College's Kaylee Cerruto (Torrington, Conn.) drained a game-best 15 points off the bench to help pace the Mariners to a 61-46 victory over the Blazers in Thursday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball game.

With the loss, Elms moves to 8-14 overall, 6-7 in NECC play, while Mitchell improves to 13-7 on the season, 10-3 in league action.

Leading 29-26 at intermission, Elms extended that lead to 31-26 when freshman forward Nicolette Martin (Colchester, Conn.) converted a layup 47 seconds into the second half. Mitchell answered with a 12-7 run to knot the score at 38-38 with 11:22 to play in the contest.

A Condon layup put Elms ahead 40-38 but Brittany Smyth (Winsted, Conn.) swished a trey to spark a 15-3 spurt by the Mariners to set the score at 53-43 with 4:34 remaining in the contest.

Donohue struck from beyond the arc with 2:15 to play to pull Elms to within seven at 53-46, but Mitchell connected on 8 of 10 from the free throw line to score eight unanswered points and close out the contest and seal a 61-46 victory.

Elms shot 38.2-percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes but was held to 28.0-percent shooting in the second half, while Mitchell used a 36.7-shooting clip in the second period to overcome a three-point deficit following a 29.7-percent performance from the floor in the first stanza.

Blazers' junior forward Erika Murphy (Torrington, Conn.) was tremendous on the boards, corralling a game-high 20 rebounds, while Martin totaled eight points and six rebounds in the losing effort.

Mitchell had three players score in double figures as Alix O'Neil (New London, Conn.) and Bianca Young (Bridgeport, Conn.) netted 12 and 10 points respectively behind Cerruto's 15-point effort.

Allison Peck (Colchester, Conn.) dished out a game-high six assists, while Young added a team-best nine rebounds to help the Mariners sail away with the victory.

Elms returns to league play on Tuesday, Feb. 15 when it hosts Becker College in a 6:00 p.m. contest at Picknelly Arena.